India Moves Forward with Establishment of Wadhavan Port

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) and Maharashtra Maritime Board have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that relates to establishment of a Greenfield port at Wadhavan, Maharashtra.

The project forms part of Indian government’s initiative to build eight ports, with only three announced so far, those being Wadhwan in Maharashtra, Sagar in Bengal and Colachel in Tamil Nadu entailing an investment of Rs 25,000 crore.

Once completed the new port will allow large size ships to enter Indian waters and will also help decongest JNPT and Mumbai Port, India’s Shipping Ministry said, announcing the deal.

Phase I of the project is estimated to cost around Rs 9167 crores.

Local media said that the proposed port will have a capacity of 40-60 million tonnes, with JNPT taking a 74% stake in the project while the state government would hold the rest.

The MoU was signed during the first day of the Maritime India Summit taking place from 14 to 15th of April, in Mumbai when a total of 22 agreements worth around Rs 31000 crs were signed.

In all, nearly 140 MoUs/business deals will be signed over two days totaling in more than USD 12 bn (Rs 83000 crores) of investments. Projects cover port development and modernization, development of inland waterways, ship building, setting up of LNG terminals and power plants.

These include Petronet LNG’s MoU with Inland Waterways Authority of India to facilitate greater use of LNG in inland water transport along with Cochin Shipyard Limited’s deal with Samsung Heavy Industries to formalize technical cooperation for building LNG ships in India.

Moreover, Adani group announced plans to invest around Rs 28000 crs over next five years in various projects, including investments in new ports in Odisha and Gujarat.